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Senator Romeo Dallaire autographs a copy of his book Shake Hands with the Devil, an account of the Rwandan genocide. Dallaire says military families now share the stress of deployments.
Elliot Ferguson The Whig-Standard

Soldiers sent on missions overseas no longer fight alone. Their families share the stress of combat daily through the media images, said Senator Romeo Dallaire.

Speaking Tuesday at the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research's third annual forum on military health in Kingston, Dallaire said modern communications mean people in Canada, including families of soldiers, see what is happening on faraway battlefields.

Combat missions change the soldiers who are deployed and when they return, they return to families who have also been changed by the experience.

Those experiences mean spouses and children of Canadian Forces' personnel can suffer long-term mental health injuries that can linger and lead to suicide and other health problems years after the mission ends.

Dallaire shared his own family's experience with post traumatic stress disorder from two different wars on two continents.

Dallaire's presentation chronicled his life as the son of a Second World War infantry regiment commander, who after the war suffered the symptoms of OSI.

“We didn't run away from that home but there were many, many times we wanted to,” he said.

“We survived.”

A generation later, in Africa, Dallaire would survive his own traumatic situation as commander of United Nations troops in Rwanda at the time of the genocide.

“My family had the experience of fearing their father, of hating their father and hoping he didn't come home from work for years,” he said.

None of his children nor his wife have read Dallaire's best-selling account of the Rwandan genocide, Shake Hands with the Devil.

Even many years after the traumatic event, the stress can continue to build until it becomes unbearable.

Dallaire referred to statistics from the United States that showed post traumatic stress disorder and other health issues among Vietnam War veterans lead to more deaths than combat.

The U.S. lost about 58,000 troops in combat Vietnam. Only five yeas after the fighting ended, in 1977, 102,000 veterans had committed suicide.

Dallaire said the military has taken steps to treat OSI within the military, but the Canadian Forces are lacking in programs focussed on helping the families of veterans and programs that do exist are not being used enough.

“At a time when people talk about constraint, there is one area where there should be no talk of constraint whatsoever,” he said.

“We created the scenario. We have the responsibility to bring it to the best conclusion possible for all involved.”